Method of and apparatus for making reenforced sheets



Npv. 7, 1933. w. H. cANNARD METHOD 0F AND APPARATUS FOR MAKINGREENFORCED SHEETS Filed May l0, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet l N09, 7, 1933. w H,CANNARD 1,934,589

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING REENFORCED SHEETS Filed May 1o. 1929s sheets-Sheet 2 3 Sheets-Sheet Nov. 7,1933. w. H. CANNARD METHOD OF ANDAPPARATUS FOR MAKING REENFORCED SHEETS Filed May 10, 1929 UNI Thisinventio enforced sheets TEDl STATES rPiirrzlwrv OFFICE REENFORCEDSHEETS METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING Williaml. Cannard, Green Bay,Wis. Application May 10, 1929. Serial No. 362,026

8 Claims.

n relates to improvements in reand method of and apparatus for makingthe same.

It has heretofore been proposed to make a re- 5 enforced paper sheet byinserting between two sheets of paper as scrim,

a layer of woven material, such an Yadhesive such as asphaltum beingused to unite the components into the completed product. Such ture andis limited in is expensive to manufacits uses because it is not a sheetsuiciently strong for all purposes.

It is an object of, my invention to produce a reenforced sheet of greatstrength, adapted to many uses, and which may be formed directly uponany well known chine.

type of paper making ma- Another object of the invention is to provide areenforced sheet wherein the reenforcement material is securely embeddedin the pulp from which the sheet is made, and thus is, in effect, anintegral part' of the sheet.

Another object of the invention is to provide a reenforced sheet inwhich the reenforcement may be either in the rate threads.

form of a woven fabric or sepa- The invention also contemplates a methodof producing a re set forth, and by enforced sheet of the characterfollowing which thesheet may be made directly upon'a paper makingmachine in a single continuous operation.

A further object of vide av method the invention is to proof makingreenforced sheets in first deposited upon the traveling screen of anywell known type of paper Still another provide apparatus for includingmeans .for upon the traveling screen machine, means for applying pulp alayer offor depositing upon second layer of Still another a layer Vofreenforcing material the layer of pulp, and of pulp is deposited thusformed.

making a reenforced sheet, depositing a layer of pulp of a 'paper makingto said layer of reenforcing material,` and` means the structure thusformed a pulp.

object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for making areenforced sheet which is plying means between f of supply ofreenforcing provided with spaced pulp supwhich is located a sourcematerial, mechanism being provided for feeding the reenforcing materialto the layer of pulp means.

lpulp supplying A further ob depositedby one of said ject of theinvention isto provide an apparatus of the character set foi th in whichseparate threads may be incorporated in a sheet of paper which is beingformed upon the machine during the4 process of its formation, the saidthreads serving to reenforce the sheet and being thoroughly embeddedtherein.

Other objects of my inventionand themany advantages thereof will in partbe obvious'V and in part more fully brought out as the descriptionproceeds. 65

In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated two practicalembodiments of an apparatus constructed in accordance with my inventionand upon which a reenforced sheet of the character described may bemanufactured in ac- 7 cordance with the method set forth above. It is tobe understood that these drawings are illustrative merely, and that theinvention is in no way to be construed as limited to the details ofconstruction therein disclosed. The invention is susceptible of a widerange of f modication and equivalency without sacrificing the salientfeatures thereof, or departing from the scope of the invention definedin the appended claims.

In these drawings:

vFig. 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed in accordance withmy invention, and showing particularly the arrangement of pulp supplyingmeans and reenforcing material supplying means, vas applied to aFourdrlnier ma.- chine of standard construction;

Fig. 2 is a view inside elevation of the feed rolls for applying thereenforcing material;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front elevation of the structure illustrated inFig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of a reenforced sheet made inaccordance with my invention;

Fig. 5 is a partial view, in side elevation, of a modification andillustrating particularly the mechanism for applying reenforcingmaterial in the form of individual threads.

Fig. 6 is a broken front elevation of a shaker frame employed inconnection with the aparatus illustrated in Fig. 5; l

Fig. 'I is a detached frame;

Fig. 8 is a view in side elevation of the mechanism for applying threadsto reenforce the sheet and showing the mechanism for impartingreciprocating movement to the shaker frame illustrated in Fig..6;

Fig. 9 is a plan view, on a reduced scale, of the thread applyingmechanism and showing, mQl'Q Ol less diagrammatically, the operation of110 view of a bobbin supporting the mechanism for imparting waves to theindividual threads and Fig. 10 is a detail of a thread guide.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings, I have illustrated so much of an ordinaryFourdrinier paper making machine as-is required to be shown for thepurposes of my invention and including a Fourdrinier wire Il trainedabout a breastl roll 12. The reference numeral 13 indicates the usualdeckle strap.

nUpon each side of the Fourdrinier Wire nearv the breast roll I haveprovided a pair of frames 14 supported upon suitable standards 15, theframes 14 being vertically adjustable in the standards by means ofreversely threaded rods 16 provided with xed adjusting nuts 17.

Each of the frames 14 supports a pulp container and supplying device 18which is in the form of a cylinder extending across the Fourdrinier wire11, each container being provided with a discharge opening through whichpulp may be deposited upon the wire. The pulp containers 18 areadjustable vertically with respect to the wire 11 by adjustment of thethreaded rods 16.' The discharge openingsin the containers 18areadjustable as to length and width by mechanism more fully describedin my copending application SerialNo. 356,444, led April 19, 1929. It issufflcient for the purposes of the present application to state that thewidth of the discharge opening -may be adjusted by compressing the sidewalls of the cylinder, this being accomplished by means of a shaft 19operated through a worm wheel 20 which is rotated by a hand wheel 21.The length of the discharge openings is adjusted by means of suitableplugs which are caused to traverse the discharge openings bymanipulation of a hand wheel 22, all as described in my said copendingapplication.

Each of the pulp supply units as thus described' is operative to depositupon the Fourdrinier wire 11 a quantity of pulp, the deposition of thepulp being under suillcieniJ pressure to overcome any tendency to owoccasioned by the movement of the wire 11.

Positioned adjacent the wire 11 and between the frames 14 is a suitablesupporting standard 23, there being one such standard at each side ofthe wire, and which are provided at their upper ends with bearings 24 inwhich is rotatably mounted a roll 25 of reenforcing material. Thebearings 24 are of the split type, to facilitate insertion and removalof rolls of reenforcing material. The reenforcing material may be of anytype of loosely woven textile fabric, such for example as scrim, and thecharacter of the material may be varied in accordance with the typeofreenforced paper that is to be produced.

Between the roll of reenforcing material and one of the pulp supplyingunits, I have mounted a mechanism for withdrawing reenforcing materialfrom the roll and depositing the same upon the wire l1. This mechanismis fully illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, and comprises suitable standards26 in which are journaled two feed rolls 27 and 27a. The upper roll 27is mounted in a iioating bearing 28 which may be adjusted bymanipulation of a hand-wheel 29, and a spring 30 is introduced to insuretight contact of the rolls 27 and 27a. The upper roll 27 is preferablyprovided with a covering 31 of rubber or like material, and the lowerroll 27a is preferably of metal or other hard material. The rolls 27 and27a are further provided with intermeshing gears 32 and. 33 whereby theyare rotated in opposite directions,

rotation being imparted from any suitable source through a convenientbelt 34.

As is indicated in Fig. 2, the reenforcing material R is drawn from theroll 25 and passes around the upper roll 27, thence through the bightbetween the rolls 27 and v27, and then around the lower roller 27, andis thus deposited upon the wire 11.

By the mechanism just described, it is believed that my method offorming a reenforced sheet will be quite clear to those skilled in theart. PulpA is discharged upon the wire 11 -from the first of the pulpsupply units 18, and as the wire travels to the right, as viewed in Fig.1, the reenforcing material R is deposited upon this layer of pulp. Thestructure thus formed is carried' bythe wire l1 under the second pulpsupply unit 18, and there a second layer of pulp is deposited. Theresult is that the structure is composed of two layers of pulp with areenforcing material between them, and inasmuch as this-structure isformed directly upon the machine, it will be quite clear that the pulpwill entirely 1Lill-the interstices of the reenforcing material and,thus, in effect completely embed the same in the sheet. Thus, thereenforcing material becomes an integral part of the sheet asformed inaccordance with my method. This sheet is illustrated in the partialsectional view in Fig. 4, in which the rst layer of pulp is indicated bythe referencecharacter P', the reenforcing material by R, and the upperor second layer of pulp by the reference-character P2. A sheet thusformed is of great strength in all directions and isuseful for a greatvariety of purposes, and is more readily and more cheaply manufacturedthan reenforced sheets heretofore devised.

In Figs. 5 to 10, inclusive, I have illustrated a modification of myinvention in which individual reenforcing threads are incorporated inthe sheet as distinguished from the woven fabric which is incorporatedin the sheet heretofore described.

By referring to Fig. 5, it will be seen that this modification includesessentially a suitable supporting structure 35 for a plurality ofbobbins 36 each of which is mounted upon a spindle 37 for p easyrotation. The spindles are held in position by' means of bifurcatedspring latches 38 which bear against the bottom of the bobbins. 'Ihereenforcing threads of each of the bobbins 36 pass through suitableguides 39 to a mechanism for applying the threads to the rst layer ofpulp which has been deposited upon the Fourdrinier wire.

Mounted upon a suitable part of the framework of the machine arestandards 40 which support a bar 41 provided with a plurality of threadguides 42 similar in construction to the guides 39. The construction ofthe thread guides is best shown in Fig. 10, and it will lbe seen thatthe eye isformed by bending the material of the guide in three differentplanes, thus facilitating ease of threading. The reenforcing threadspass from the guides 42 to a reciprocating bar 43, the construction andoperation of which will now be described.

The bar 43 is provided with a plurality of thread guides 44 similar tothe guides 39 and 42 heretofore described, and which are secured to thebar by means of suitable pins 45. The bar 43 is suspended from arms 46which are pivoted eccentrics 48 which are connected to the bar 43 bymeansof cranks 49. Rotary motion is imparted to the eccentrics 48through shafts 50 yjournaled in brackets 51 and provided at one end withpinions *52Awhich'receive their. motion from a suitable gear on the feedmechanism now to be described.

The feedmechanism for drawing the threads from the bobbins 35 anddepositing them upon the rst layer ofplup, includesI three feed rolls`53, 54 and 55. The upper roll 53 is mounted in A a floating bearingy 56in the same manner as is the roll 27, heretofore described. 'This rollmay also be of the same construction as the roll-2'?, in that it ispreferably provided with a cover of `rubber or other 'n'fiateriaL`- Therolls 54 and 55 are provided with sprockets 57 and 58, respectively,about which is trained a sprocket chain 59 whereby these two rolls arerotated in the same direction. Upon the shaft of the roll 54 is asuitable gear 60 which drives the pinions 52 heretofore described.

By referring to Fig. 8, the path of travel of the reenforcing threadswill be clear. The thread indicated by T, after leaving the guides 44 onthe reciprocating bar 43, passes between the rollers 53 and 54 andfollows the circumference of the roller 54 until it reaches the bightbetween the roller 54 and the roller 55. Inasmuch as these twolast-mentioned rolls rotate in the same direction, the thread will thenfollow the contour of the roll 55 and will be deposited upon the wire11, as clearly shown in Fig. 8. By the mechanism just described, aplurality of individual threads may be incorporated into a reenforcedsheet, a wavy eiect being imparted to the threads and thus producing areenforcement which is quite similar to the woven fabric which has beenheretofore described. Fig. 9 illustrates completely the action of themechanism which imparts the wavy effect to the threads, and it isbelieved that this operation will be quite clear to those skilled in theart.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that I have provided anovel form of reenforced sheet in which the reenforcing material may beeither woven fabric or individual threads, and

in either case the reenforcement is directly embedded in`the pulp fromwhich the sheet is formed and is, thus, an integral part thereof. I havealso provided a novel type of apparatus for Amanufacturing thereenforced sheet, in

which pulp is supplied to the traveling wire of a paper making machinefrom two sources which are suitably spaced and between which is'locateda source of supply of reenforcing material. Where it is desired toincorporate an alreadywoven fabric, the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 1will be used, and in which case the reenforcing material is suppliedfrom a supply roll which is located between two pulp supplying devices.Where individual threads are to be incorporated in the sheet,themechanism illustrated in Figs. 5 to 10 is employed; that is to say, aplurality of bobbins containing the reenforcing thread are locatedbetween the two pulp supplying devices, the thread being drawn from the.bobbins by the feed mechanism described, and having imparted to it awavy effect by reason of the reciprocation of the thread guidedescribed.

While in the appended drawings and in the foregoing specification I havedescribed my invention as being adapted particularly to a socalledFourdrinier paper making machine, it will be readily understood andappreciated that my apparatus may be equally well associated with anyother type of paper making machine, suchA ltainers mounted in spacedrelation above said screen to deposit pulp layers thereon, a pluralityo. bobbins of reenforcing thread mounted between said pulp-containers,means to draw reenforcing threads from said bobbins and apply thembetween the pulp layers deposited by the said pulp-containers, and meansto impart a wavy effect to said threads.

2. Apparatus for makingreenforced paper including a traveling screen,- apair of spaced pulpcontainers juxtaposed to said screen and fordepositing. pulp thereon, means between said containers for supporting aplurality of bobbins of reenforcing thread, a pluralityof feed-rolls fordrawing thread from said bobbins and introducing it between the pulplayers, a bar provided with thread guides through which said threadpasses, and means to reciprocate said bar to impart a wavy effect to thethread.

3. Apparatus for making reenforced paper including a traveling screen, apair of spaced pulpcontainers juxtaposed to said screen for depositinglayers of pulp thereon, means between said containers for supporting aplurality of bobbins of reenforcing thread, a plurality of feed-rollsfor drawing thread from said bobbins and introducing it between saidpulp layers, a bar provided with thread guides through which said threadpasses, means to rotate said feed-rolls, and means to translate therotary motion of said feed-rolls into reciprocating motion of said bar,whereby a wavy effect is imparted to the thread.

4. The herein described method of making a reenforced paper sheet havingan integral character which includes the step of depositing downwardlyfrom above a layer of pulp upon a forming screen and, immediatelythereafter, before the flbers of such pulp layer have become set,depositing successively thereon spaced reenforcing elements and a secondpulp layer likewise deposited so that the fibers of the two pulps layerswill intermingle with each other in the vspaces between the reenforcingelements and in setting will cause the two pulp layers to .become unitedin an integral whole.

5. The herein described method of making a e pulp layers willintermingle with each other in the spaces between the reenforcingelements and in setting will cause the two pulp layers to become unitedin an integral whole.

6. Apparatus for making reenforced paper including a. traveling formingscreen, a pair of pulp containers mounted in close proximity to eachother above said screen for depositing successive layers of pulp uponthe screen, the relationship between said pulp containers being suchthat a second pulp layer will be deposited upon' supply of reenforcingmaterial mounted between,

said pulp depositing means, and a pair of feed rolls for drawingreenforcing materials from said source of supply and feeding the samebetween the successive pulp layers.

8. The herein described method of making a reeni'orced paper sheethaving an integral character which includes the steps of depositing atseveral points upon a traveling forming screen a pulp suspension, andintroducing intermediate-A ly thereof-spaced reenforcing elements, saidreenforcing elements being fed onto the screen to avoid longitudinaltension upon the pulp, the several pulp deposits being made in rapidsuccession so that the bers of the iirst pulp layer will intermnglecompletely with the fibers of the subsequent pulp layer through thespaces between the reenforcing elementsA to produce an integral sheet,the internal strength and cohesion of which throughout the iinal'productis the same as the strength and cohesion of either of the pulplayers when taken by themselves.

WILLIAMH. CANNARD.

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